Weighing instrument



H. MOAKLEY. WEIGHING INSTRUMENT.

APPLICATION FILED DEC. 31. I917.

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H. MOAKLEY. WEIGHING INSTRUMENT. APPLICATION FILED DEC-3!. 1917;

PatenmdNbv. 14,1922.

2 SHEETS-SHEEI 2 Patented Nov. 14, 1922.

UNITED PATENT OFFICE.

HENRY MOAKLEY, or NEW YORK; N. Y., ASSIGNOR ro HANNIBAL c. roan, or NEW YORK, N. Y.

WEIGHING INSTRUMENT.

Application filed December 31, 1917. Serial No. 209,771.

10 flows or moves relatively to a given fixed point in any determined period of time; or in other words, an instrument which integrates the variable functions, weight and speed.

One objectof the invention is to provide an instrument of this character, in which an integrating mechanism is used, which mechanism is so constructed that the parts always remaln 1n continuous rolling contact without any slippage, whereby the accuracy of the machine may be materially increased.

Another object of the invention is to provide an instrument of this character, in

which no appreciable strain or effort is placed upon the weighing mechanism by the integrating device, whereby the liability of error from this source is materially decreased.

A further object of the invention is to provide an instrument of this character,

which is of a simple construction, with few movable parts. I

lVith these and other objects in view, which will be hereinafter describedin conjunction with the accompanying drawings,

o time and the invention will be described in conjunction with such a conveyor, it being understood that other embodiments of the invention may be constructed which are adapted for use where it is desired to multiply the weight of a moving mass of material by another factor.

In the drawings,

Figure 1 shows a longitudinal vertical section through a portion of a traveling con veyor having associated therewith a weighing instrument constructed in accordance with the principles of the invention; F Figure 2 is a transverse section through *igure 3 is an elevation showing the belt conveyor and weighing instrument in elevatron, upon a reduced scale;

Figure at is a detail showing a horizontal section through the integrating mechanism, taken on the line 4-et of Figure 5; and

Figure 5 is a section taken on the line 55 of Figure 4.

Referring first to Figure 3 of the drawing, the traveling conveyor with which the weighing instrument is adapted to be used, may be of any usual construction and may comprise an endless belt or carrier 1, which is trained over pulleys or wheels 2, one or both of which wheels may be power driven. The upper or lower runs of the belt or carrier are supported by idlers 5 and 6, as is the usual construction. The weighinginstrument which may be used with a belt conveyor of this character, is enclosed within a casing which is secured to a tableor platform 7 supported on standards 8, the platform 7 forming the base or bed for the idlers 5. The idlers 5 for the upper run may be constructed. as shown in Figure 2, consisting of a shaft 9. to which is fastened a middle roller 10 and two cone-shaped end rollers 11. One of these idlers, namely, the one shown in Figure 2, constitutes a part of the weighing instrument, the shaft 9 of this idler being carried by bearings 13 and 14 which are mounted at the upper ends of armsd15 and 16. The arms 15 and 16 pass through suitable openings in the platform or table 7 and are guided for vertical movement by the rollers 17. The lower ends of the arms 15 and 16 are provided with apertures or holes for the reception of the knife edges 19 and 20, which knife edges are carried at the ends of legs 21. and 22 and form a part of a T- shaped scale arm, the scale arm of which is designated 23. This scale arm is balanced upon a knife edge 24 which is carried by a suitable bracket secured to the under side of the platform or table 7 The scale arm 23 is connected by means of a link 25 to a second scale arm 26, the link 25 being provided with knife edges 27 and 28, which fit into suitable apertures or holes in the ends of the scale arms.

The scale arm 26 is tulcruined upon the hni'l'c cdgic 533% which is carried by a suitmechanism. as

will be later slides or guidways ill, "the being: pre l erably provided. with rollers which roll in there The cage 2? also terms the to; o; balance consisting oi? compression 36 one end of which bears egaii'n'at .ttoni of the casing-1f ill, and the other end which bears uguinst the arse To prevent this spring from lnickling it may be s-surrounded by e cylindrical czis'. 3'4 which consists of two teleseo iic sections one section being carried by the casing 31 and the on 1 by the cage it will therefore be seen thutlroin the construction described. the "\weig 'ln; oil material upon the belt and over the movable idler will cause the weighing mechanism to be put into operation end. by suitably proportioning the parts the ca 33 will have a aertical movement downwardly in proport1on to the weight of thenicrenieuts oi? the Us which supported upon the belt 1 over the iiu'irsble idler. is shown in .l ig fure Q there is no ete' iul upon the belt, so that arn'i 26 is therefore nude: no tension, any we "ht upon the belt moving;' the 83 downwardly. i'lin. :e the movement of the cage 33:; is proportional to the increments of weir-. can ried by the belt over the nu vahlc idler. the instantaneous values olf these increments may be read by means oi? the scale 40. over which t vels movable pointer ll which is directly connected to the cage 33.

is is well known. the total weight of matorial which passes over the movable id er i'bustitutingf av part of the weighing; mechanism, is proportional not only. to the weight oil the material but is ulso proportimial to the speed at which the belt isdri'ven, and by integrating); t; se two wiriables the total weight oi material which passes over the belt may be determined. This is accomplished by means oi (l int grating zucchhnisin whic a, variable speed l2!(('.l) .11 so con ntcd that its parts are in con- !uo'ns rolling! contact so th t no api n'ecicam-" aole eddit rnial eilort or strain is phi cod upon the notab e elements o'l'" the weih'hn able oted tothe casing at ol.

portionate to thc product oi both of these variables and hence by c0 meeting this (lllYQll element to 21 suitable W(-)1{ {l1t-l.ntl10tll; inn mechanism the sumnmtion or integration. oi the product oi the ll1f%";&l1i;ll1l602l8 values 1.. l 1 ot speed and weight may oe ootanled. llns integrating mechanism will now be described.

11w I, i 1 lhe dining element 111 the QllluOLllIllLlh shown comprises a disk l3 which is mounted II]. a beer-inc; ll carried by a bracket 4:5 extending upwardly from. the bottom ot the casing 31. This dish n'iounted upon a she t ell) which extends through the casing and is driven from the sha 9 by means Oil sprockets and a; chain all, whereby the speed oi the disk is directly proportional. to the speed of the belt conveyor. The driven element of the variable speed mechanism coniprises a cylinder ll) which is mounted in a yoke 50. the yoke 50 being preferably pivlnterposed between the disk and the cylinder is the speed- .-l-.unging device which. in the present construction, comprises a pair o'l balls 52 and 53. which bulls are in rolling contact with ca ch other and with the dish and cylinder, respectively. The halls, disk and cylinder ere held in ilrictional engagement with each other bymeans oi 2L spring F41, which. spring is attached at oneend to the bracket e and at its other end to the yoke which carries the cylinder, the spring; being exerted to force the cylinder ugg'iiinst the balls and thus place apre ure upon all of the members of the "variable speed mechanism to maintain them in. trictionzil contact. The balls 52 and are surrounded by the cage 33 which is interposed in and forms a part oi? the scale il'nQCllll'llSlll. The cage 33 carries rollers which bee against the balls :32 and and hold the balls so that their points of rolling: contact with ouch otho r and with the disk and cylinde a e in alignment. as shown in l ig. The mann in which the instrument opeij ates is obvious from the preceding description, and assuming: that no weight is upon the conveyor and the con. eyor is being driven, the parts will be in the position shown in Figure Here the ball 52 in'lmediately overthe center of the dish and hence is not rotated. so that no movement is iin'g'ierted to the driven. element or cylinder its the. materiel is placed upon. the bolt the movable idler will be forced dmvnwardly slightly to actuate the scale mechanism, which will push the cage downwardly from the position shown in Fig. 3, and therefore more the balls from the center oi. the disk. The halls will then begin to rotate and the cylinder 49 will be driven, the speed of rotation or" the cylinder being directly proportional to the product of the speed of the disk eg and the displacement of the balls 52 and 53 from the ccnter'of the disk. Inasmuch as the speed of the disk 43 1s proportimial to the speed. of the conveyor and the displacement idler, it is evident that the speed of the cvlinder 49 is directly proportional to the prod nct of these two, or in other words, the total al'lgular displacement of the cylinder 49 will be proportional to the total quantity of material which passes over themovable idler forming a. part of the scale mechanism. The angular movement of the cylinder 49 may bentilized for actuating a weight-indicating mechanism consisting of a range counter (30, which is driven by a suitable gearing, such as the beveled gears 62 and 63 and worm 64 and worm wheel 65, the worm wheel being carried by the shaft 66 of the weight-indicating mechanism, which may be of any suitable construction such as the ordinary counter. Any changes in the speed of the belt will directly affect the speed of rotation of the disk 43 and any changes in the incrementof the mass of material over the movable idler of the weighing mecha nism will cause the cage 33 to move toward or away from the center of the disk. This movement of the cage will not place any appreciable efl'ort upon the scale mechanism since the two balls 42 and 43 always remain in rolling contact with the disk and cylinder without slipping, and since these two balls 52 and 53 are both spherical in shape, it is obvious that the bodily movement of the balls radially over the disk will not affect the speed of the driven element 45, the speed of this element being dependent entirely upon the distance which the ball 52 is from the center of the disk and upon the speed of the disk itself. The fact that the two balls 52 and 53 are interposed between the disk and driven element also insures that the parts of the variable speed mechanism will not slip under any conditions, and hence an accurate measurement of the weight of the material will always be had.

Other variable speed mechanisms may be utilized instead of the one shown, providing the parts always remain in rolling contact and providing also that the speed changing device is bodily movable, as for example, instead of utilizing two balls between the disk and, cylinder the mechanism disclosed. in my copending application Serial No. 208,273, filed December 21, 1917, may be utilized, and it is therefore not the intention to limit the invention to the particular embodiment described but only by the scope of the claims appended hereto. It is also obvious that the variable speed mechanism may be utilized with other types of scale thana conveyor scale, in which instance the disc would be driven by other means than the conveyor belt and it is intended that such modifications shall come within the purview of this invention.

I claim:

1. A machine for weighing material while in motion comprising a movable member whose displacements are proportional to the weights of'succcssive portions of the material, a rotary member having a speed proportional to the rate of movement of the successive portions of material, a driving element connected to the rotary member, a driven element, a bodily movable speed changing device having its parts in rolling contact at all times with. the driving and driven elements, means for connecting the device tothe movable member, and weight indicating means actuated by the driven element.

2. In a machine for weighing material while in motion the combination with a weighing device having a movable part whose displacements are proportional to the weights of successive portions of the material and a rotary member having a speed proportional to the rate of movement of said portions, of a variable speed mechanism having a driving element connected to said rotary member, a driven element with weightindicating means actuated thereby, and a bodily movable speed-changing device including a ball interposed between said driving and driven elements and actuated by said movable part of said weighing device.

3. In a machine for weighing material while in motion the combination with a weighing device having a movable part whose displacements are proportional to the weights of successive portions of the material and a rotary member having a speed proportional to the rate of movement of said portions, of a variable speed mechanism having driving element connected to said rotary member, a driven element with weight-indicating means actuated thereby, and a bodily movable speed-changing device comprising a ball and a'cage surrounding said ball and connections from said cage to said movable part of said weighing device.

4. In a machine for weighing material .while in motion the combination with a weighing device having a movable part whose displacements are proportional to the weights of successive portions of the material and a rotary member having a speed proportional to the rate of movement of said portions, of a variable speed mechanism having a driving element connected to said rotary member, a driven element with weight-indicating means actuated thereby, one of said elements comprising a disk and a bodily movable speed-changing device in cluding a spherical member adapted to travel across the face of said disk and means for driving said driven element at a speed proportional to the speed ott' said spherical member, a cage surrounding said spherical member, and connections from said cage to the movable part of said weighing device. 5. Tn combination with a Weighing device having a part movable proportional to Weight- 2.1 variable speed HIGCliZLIllSIll'COIIlPIlS- mg a driving element and a driven member, a speed changing element comprising a pair of bells interposed beJm'een the driving element and the driven member, a connection between said :part of said Weighing device and one'oif said elements for moving it proportionally to the Weight, a means for moving the other of said elements in proportion to another factor whereby said driven 1nember has movement proportional to the product of said weight and such factor.

tary driving element and a rotary driven member, a speed changing element 111tGl'- posed between said-driving element and said driven member, having its parts in rolling contact with said driving element and said driven member at all times, means for connectmgone of said elements to the said part of the weigher to have a movement proportionel to Weight, a means for moving the other of said elements proportionally to another *laotor' whereby said driven member has-n movement proportional to the product "of 'the weight multiplied by said factor.

HEN-RY ivroAKLmi 

